


For the rest of your life

by Mierke



Category: Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, F/F, relationship anarchy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-05
Updated: 2019-02-05
Packaged: 2019-10-22 20:29:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17669534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mierke/pseuds/Mierke
Summary: Chloe saves June from her ex-boyfriend. The question is, why?





	For the rest of your life

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bluemoonrune](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluemoonrune/gifts).



> You requested an Hogwarts AU, and I happily ran with it.

By lunch, everyone knew that June Colbourn was under the protection of Chloe McGruff. June wasn't sure how this had happened, let alone _why_ Chloe had decided to stick up for her.

She had just been so fed up with Steven following her around and calling her names for not wanting to date him anymore, for making it seem like she was somehow in the wrong for not wanting to be with someone who had cheated on her constantly, that she had turned around and yelled out the first spell she could think of.

"What did you do, you bench, madam?!" he'd yelled at her, and the forced politeness had June dissolving into giggles for the first time in weeks. "What the here is this, madam? Fork, what did you do, miss June?!"

June had sent up a silent prayer of thanks to the library book that had taught her this spell, but when Steven had come rushing at her, set on physical violence, she had recoiled-

And then Chloe had been there, sauntering in without a care in the world, as if the entirety of Hogwarts was her castle and the inhabitants merely her underlings, as if time itself bowed down to her.

"This your work?" she'd asked, and June had nodded, flabbergasted that Chloe would actually talk to her.

"Brilliant." Then Chloe had turned to Steven, had made some kind of shooing motion, and had told him to "Go away".

He had given a small bow, added a "Yes, m'lady" and disappeared, looking disgusted with himself but with not a glance June's way. And that was it. That was how easily Chloe controlled the school.

All Chloe had said when June had asked her why she had defended her, had been "Because I like you." June's confused "Why?" had been met with silence, since by then Chloe had been long gone.

"I just don't get it," she now said to Mark, as they were walking from the Great Hall to DADA. "I don't get why she'd stick up for me."

"Are you sure that's what she was doing?" At June's glare, he threw up his hands. "I'm just saying, it doesn't sound like a Chloe thing to do. Maybe she just had a bone to pick with Steven. Maybe he looked at her wrong. Who knows why Chloe does things."

They walked along silently for a bit, while June mulled that over.

"It didn't feel like that," she eventually said. "The way it happened, and the way she looked at me before taking down Steven, I am sure it had to do with me. And it doesn't make any sense. Who would want to stick up for me?"

Mark mumbled something, but June was too busy figuring out her own thoughts to ask him to repeat it.

"Why do you even care?" Mark asked. "What does it matter what Chloe does? It was one interaction. She's probably forgotten all about you by now."

June very decidedly did not investigate why those words hit her like a brick to the stomach. It was time for DADA anyway.

* * *

"Come to Hogsmeade with me."

June looked around to see who Chloe was talking to, but the library seemed deserted, and Chloe was standing at her table.

"Me?"

"Yes, you." Chloe tapped on her table impatiently. "James is off with some girl, and I can't have as much fun if no one's admiring me."

"I'm sorry, Chloe, I'm not actually allowed to go to Hogsmeade." June tried to get her trembling hands to still, unwilling to show the embarrassment that was rising within her. "My parents felt sending me to Hogwarts was scary enough, but at least that was just a boarding school. Since they didn't know this _Hogsmeade_ , they didn't feel comfortable allowing me to go there."

Chloe raised an eyebrow at her, and June shrugged.

"I'm Muggleborn. I figured a school was just a school, and I immediately hid my copy of _Hogwarts, a History_ after reading it. I declined to tell my parents about the Forbidden Forest."

Chloe laughed at that, and June felt the corners of her mouth perk up. Chloe thought she was funny?

"You rebel." Chloe grabbed her hand and pulled June from her chair. "Also, I don't care. Who needs permission slips? We'll just take an unofficial route out of the castle, and no one will be the wiser."

June struggled and held on to the table, trying to keep her balance.

"I... I-" She wasn't sure what she was going to say, and she trailed off into nothing.

"You're not really scared of Hogsmeade, are you? It's just a town, June. Not even a town, really, just a small village with some awfully boring shops." With a wave of her wand, Chloe shoved all of June's books haphazardly into her bag. June cringed as she could hear the pages crumpling, and pulled the bag out of Chloe's hands.

"If it's so boring, then why do you want to go?" She raised an eyebrow at Chloe - two could play that game, thank you very much - and tapped her foot as she waited for an answer.

"Because everything beats staying here," Chloe whined. "Come on, June. Aren't you Hufflepuffs supposed to be all loyal and all? I saved you the other day, didn't I? This is the time for you to repay me."

"When you put it like that..." June said uncertainly.

"I do!" Chloe pulled at her hand again, yanking June off balance until she had no choice but to follow.

"Can I at least grab my coat?" June asked.

"You can have mine." Chloe took off her coat, revealing another one underneath it. "I came prepared. I'm not letting you get away, June."

* * *

Hogsmeade was amazing. June wanted to stop by every shop, wanted to browse Scrivenshaft’s Quill Shop, wanted to sample everything Honeydukes had to offer. It wasn't even about the shops themselves, but the magic of being there.

She let out a happy sigh, and Chloe turned towards her.

"Are you bored?" she asked, and before June could protest - bored was the last thing she was - she continued, "See, I told you Hogsmeade wasn't all that special. Want to grab a drink?"

June nodded. She really didn't care where they went as long as they stayed in Hogsmeade. She knew she was doing something she wasn't allowed, but what did her parents know anyway? It was just a village.

"Wow, this is..." June said as they entered a small tearoom, pink surrounding her everywhere.

"Isn't it awful?" Chloe said with the biggest smile on her face, and they sat down at one of the window tables.

"Then why did you bring me here?" June looked around at the frills and bows, and the delicate china on the table. "This does not seem like your kind of place at all."

"I like to surprise people."

"No, you don't," June countered, "or at least, not in any way, shape or form that I've ever heard."

Chloe wouldn't look at her, instead looking outside or at Madam Puddifoot who was squeezing through the narrow pathways or at the tea that they had ordered. And who would have thought Chloe drank tea?

"Is this a date?" Suddenly everything made sense to June. "Did you pick this because you thought I would like it? That's so sweet!"

Chloe spat out her tea. "Ugh, gross. June, I am not sweet."

She took a napkin from the neighbouring table and started dabbing the tea from her outfit.

"I picked this because I thought you should experience all that Hogsmeade had to offer. I feel it my duty as a Pureblood to show you all the different aspects of my world."

"Uh-huh," June smiled around her tea. "You tell yourself that."

They spend some time chatting about everything and nothing. No one looked at them, as if all the over the top decorations made them invisible, and June supposed that was another reason why Chloe would have picked the place.

When she came back from the ladies' room, Chloe stood next to their table.

"Come on, June, let's go."

June happily followed her out of the tearoom, feeling like she could breathe for the first time in over an hour when the fresh air hit her face. They walked a bit in silence, both enjoying that new-found freedom.

"How much do I owe you?" June asked, as she took her wallet out of her purse. They were well on their way to Hogwarts now, Hogsmeade starting to disappear in the distance.

"Oh, it's nothing," Chloe said, and she waved her off.

"No, I insist." June critically looked at the Sickles and Knuts in her wallet, even after all those years not exactly used to the Wizarding currency. "How much was it?"

"It really was nothing." Before June could protest again, she added: "I didn't pay."

"WHAT?!" June had come to a standstill on the road, and it took Chloe a couple of steps before she realised that. "You had me _steal_ on our first date?"

"It's not stealing! We didn't take anything with us. And it's not like she needs the money. Did you not see how busy it was there?"

"I don't even know where to start with you!" June resisted the urge to stomp her feet, but just barely. How could Chloe do this to her? "Yes, we did take something. We took the tea and the muffin which is now rolling uncomfortably in my stomach because apparently, it wasn't mine to eat. And of course it was busy, it was a Hogsmeade weekend! How do you think she fares on all the days and weekends the Hogwarts kids aren't around, huh? You think a lot of adults hang out at that... place?"

"Oh, please, she probably has this setup especially for the Hogwarts kids. I'm sure outside of these weekends it's a highly respectable tearoom where the Malfoys and the Blacks meet each other for high tea and gossip."

Chloe turned around as if that was the end of their discussion, and June wanted nothing more than to go the other way, but well, they had to go in the same direction.

"I can't believe you," she fumed, and stalked off past Chloe.

"You didn't pay either," Chloe pointed out, halting June in her tracks.

"Are you serious right now?" June waited until Chloe had caught up to her, and pointed a finger at her chest. "You are saying that _I_ should have paid, while you exhibited all of the social cues of having paid yourself?"

"It's not my fault you think everyone adheres to those conventions." Chloe had the nerve to smile, and June itched to get out her wand and hex the girl right there. "You're cute when you're angry."

"I am not-"

Before she could finish her sentence, Chloe had pressed her lips to her, and this time June did get out her wand. In a show of incredible self-restraint, she did not blast Chloe away, but only gave her a little push and silenced her for good measure.

"For one, Chloe," she said, keeping the wobble out of her voice as best she could, "this is not the time to kiss me. I am angry and I am mad, and at this point I don't care how adorable you think I am. For another, if you kiss me, you better plan on doing so for the rest of your life."

Chloe's eyes widened, and her mouth opened, but June was still too angry to try to make out the words. She could guess what she was saying, anyhow.

"I'm not asking for commitment, or for promises. I know we can't tell the future, Trelawney seems like a prime example of that part of magic being nonsense anyway. But I do ask that if you kiss me, you better be sure you _want_ to do it for the rest of your life."

She walked away, only lifting the spell when she felt comfortable enough with the distance she had put between them. She breathed a sigh of relief as she relinquished the iron control that she had needed to keep her trembling hands still, and allowed the shivering to take over her body.

Damn it, she liked Chloe. How had that happened?

* * *

"She had me walk out of a café without paying, and waited to tell me until there was no way for me to fix the mistake on time."

June was pacing the Hufflepuff common room, trying to keep her voice low so only Mark could hear her. She wasn't sure whether she succeeded, but she did not have the energy to care, she was just so _agitated_.

"She's a Slytherin, what did you expect?" Mark did not seem to care about the dilemma June was facing, and it only added to June's anger.

"Not all Slytherins are evil," she said, exasperated. How many times did she have to repeat herself? "And neither is Chloe."

"She slept with a teacher just to get him fired!" Mark pointed out.

"Well, yes, and that was bad, but honestly, any teacher who would go for a student probably has no business teaching in the first place, so really, she did some unsuspecting future girl a favour."

Marc groaned into his hands. "Oh, you've got it bad."

* * *

"How do you feel about polyamory?" Chloe dropped down at the seat next to her in the library. Had it been anyone else, the tone of her voice would have been cause for shushes all around, but Chloe commanded even the library kids (not Madam Pince, though, who looked around the corner of her section and had even Chloe whispering a sorry and slightly lowering her voice).

"What?" June looked up from the Potions essay she was trying to finish.

"Polyamory. You know, the idea that you don't have to limit yourself to one relationship at once? I prefer relationship anarchy myself, but I figured you'd at least know what polyamory is." Chloe tapped impatiently at the table, as if she was already bored with the conversation while June was still playing catch-up.

"I know what it is," June said. "I'm just not sure why you're asking me?"

Chloe rolled her eyes.

"Do I need to spell everything out for you, June?" She took the quill from June's hand, and tore a piece off June's parchment.

She put quill to parchment, drawing two crude stick figures with boobs, and wrote _Chloe_ under the left figure and _June_ under the right. She then continued to draw five stick figures in a circle around the Chloe figure, some with boobs, some without. These didn't get any names, but Chloe started drawing lines from every one of them to the Chloe figure, some dotted, some straight, some wobbly. She then drew a straight line starting at the Chloe figure in the direction of the June figure, but stopped midway and drew a question mark.

"I only have sex with people who want to," she said, tossing the map back at June. "Figure out if you want in."

* * *

"Chloe wants to date me."

June was sitting in the common room, watching as most of her housemates had gone off to bed, and had been repeating this line to herself for the last couple of hours.

"That can't be right, can it?" She turned to Mark, who was still sitting up with her, and very kindly had not rolled his eyes at her so far.

"She's using you." Mark's patience had obviously run out, and he closed the book he had been reading. "She didn’t say she wanted to date you, she said she wanted to have sex with you. All she wants is another notch in her belt. You are some kind of conquest to her, and honestly, June, you deserve better."

He left for the dorms, leaving June to an empty common room. While rationally she knew _having sex_ was what Chloe had said, instinctually she thought the lines drawn meant something a little less clear-cut. 

"I don't think that's true."

The walls had no response, and the unrest in June's body wouldn't settle.

* * *

"What are you playing at, Chloe?"

It was a sunny day, and June had found Chloe outside with James, lounging on something that looked suspiciously like green bed curtains.

"Huh?" Chloe looked up from the strawberries she was eating. "Oh, hi June. Want a strawberry?"

"I do not," June said, but she sat down anyway and took a strawberry from the plate. She had never been able to resist good fruit, and Hogwarts provided some of the best. Chloe had obviously raided the kitchen, she thought, as she let the fruit melt away on her tongue.

"What's your angle, Chloe?" June asked again, though the strawberries had mellowed her anger to something more akin to weariness.

"Why do you think there's a catch?" Chloe looked at her as if she was trying to figure her out. "I have been very clear in my intentions."

James looked on as if he were at a tennis game, his head swivelling from June to Chloe and back again as he followed their conversation. June did her best to ignore him, knowing better than to try and get Chloe alone. That would probably end in disaster anyway.

"Girls like you," she said, waving her hand as if to encompass all that Chloe was and represented, "do not go for girls like me."

For a beat, nobody responded, and then James and Chloe started laughing so hard that June scurried a little backwards. She had _known_ something was going on, but it still hurt to see it confirmed.

"Very funny," she spat. "Let the naive Hufflepuff think you're into her, so you can laugh about it with all your friends. You know, I always stood up for you, thinking there was no way an entire house could be evil, thinking there had to be decent Slytherin folk just like there are awful Hufflepuffs, but maybe I was wrong. I can't believe you'd do this to me, Chloe. _I liked you._ "

"Wait, June," James intercepted, as Chloe was still giggling. "You're seeing this all wrong."

"Oh, am I?" She got up from the curtain, wanting nothing more than to leave, but James grabbed her hand.

"Last year," he said, as he pulled June back down. "You terrified an OWL examinator into admitting he was wrong, thus saving the grades of most of Hogwarts. A couple of months ago, you broke up a fight between two seventh years with nothing more than a repelling charm. People say you have unrestricted access to the Restricted Section because you managed to charm _Madam Pince_."

"It's not that hard." June shrugged. "I always ask after her family. Did you know she's got two daughters and apparently they're perfect angels?"

"The point is," James continued, as he grabbed Chloe, who was on the verge of making a break for it, with his other hand. "Girls like you do not go for girls like Chloe."

"That's the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard," June said, but she hesitated to leave anyway. "And I did not _terrify_ an OWL examinator, I just reminded him of the rules he seemed to have conveniently forgotten."

It was easier to address a factual event that had happened, than the laughable idea that somehow her actions had commanded Chloe's respect.

"It's true, June." Chloe seemed to struggle with getting the words out but soldiered on anyway. "I've had a crush on you since forever. Who do you think exposed Steven?"

"Steven wasn't _exposed_ , I caught him in-" June trailed off as she remembered for the first time since that day that she had been able to catch Steven in the act because Nicole had sent her a message asking to meet her for some Arithmancy help. She had been so caught up in what she had seen that she had totally forgotten what she had come for. "You sent that message."

"Someone had to do something," Chloe said, waving away June's gratitude. "You deserve better."

"Like you?" June asked, and she winced as she heard the scepticism in her voice. It wasn't that she thought Chloe wasn't any better than Steven, it was just that she still had a hard time wrapping her head around the idea that Chloe of all people liked her.

"I wouldn't cheat," Chloe said. "I'd sleep with other people, but you'd know. I would never keep it from you. I would never treat you as disposable."

"I need to think," June said, trying to blink away the headache as she tried to figure out what she was feeling. Chloe and James might have said something in response, but June had turned on her heels and walked away before any words had been able to reach her ears.

Chloe _liked_ her.

_Chloe_ liked her.

Chloe liked _her_.

None of these sentences, no matter how she stressed it, made any sense.

* * *

June spent the next couple of weeks observing Chloe. Some might call it stalking, but hey, she was only following her into public spaces, so she was doing nothing wrong.

She saw Chloe coming out of Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, with a smirk on her face, and closely followed by Slytherin Head Boy Antares, who was looking around him as if scared someone would bust him. Merlin knew why they didn't just use the private bathroom, but something told June she really didn't want to know the answer to that.

She saw her kissing a Gryffindor sixth year, whose name might have been Raine, June wasn't entirely sure. Chloe and Raine were making the most of an abandoned classroom, and as clothes came flying off, June beat a hasty retreat.

When she saw Raine and Antares passing each other in the hall a couple of days later, they shared a smile and a hello. June wanted to walk up to them, ask them how it felt, but she really didn't know either of them enough to start such a personal conversation.

Just before the Easter holidays, she saw Chloe with Mateo, a sixth year Ravenclaw with whom she shared some classes. They weren't even touching, really, but she could still tell that there was something going on. It was probably in the way Mateo made Chloe laugh, or how close they were into each other's space.

And then, on the train home, a thought suddenly hit her that would ruin her entire holiday.  
Was Chloe just collecting the whole set?

* * *

June had spent fourteen days thinking it over, and turning it over and over in her head. If Chloe had just wanted to collect the set, wouldn't she have picked someone else? Elouise was gay, wouldn't that have been the more logical choice? Though maybe that hadn't been enough of a challenge for Chloe.

She had become more and more furious and had felt so played and betrayed. The day they went back to Hogwarts, she got on the train, said hi to Mark who was holding a place for her, and set off in search of the Slytherin compartment.

"Are you just collecting the whole set?" The words stumbled out of June the moment she found the right compartment, negating the entire calm speech that she had created in her head for the absolute blunt truth. It took a while for Chloe to even notice her and for a moment June was scared she'd forgotten who she was entirely.

"That would be something I'd do!" Chloe laughed, and held up her hand for a high five.

June reached out for a half-hearted tap, as she swallowed away the tears that were threatening to choke her.

"Oh, June, you know me so well." Chloe sighed a happy sigh and tilted her head, fondness radiating from her, if Chloe was capable of such a feeling.

"Chloe." James seemed to use her name as a warning, and inclined his head towards June as if he was trying to say something. Chloe looked at him quizzically, and back to June, and back to James. "She thinks it's true."

"Oh. Oh!" Chloe turned back to June, who by now wanted nothing more than to flee back towards Mark and play Exploding Snap until she couldn't hear her own thoughts. "It's not true."

She seemed to believe that enough of an explanation, and as some more Slytherins entered the compartment, June went back to her own in a daze. What had just happened and what did it mean? Why did Chloe have to be so _complicated_?

* * *

"I think Chloe’s collecting the whole set."

June and Mark were playing Exploding Snap, but the explosions weren’t loud enough to cover June’s thoughts.

"The whole set?" Mark paused the game for a bit, but June motioned for him to continue playing. She couldn’t talk about this if she had his full attention. 

"Yeah, you know, all the houses."

They focussed back on the game. 

"Far be it from me to defend Chloe," Mark said a little later, as he was collecting the cards to start a new game. "But didn’t you tell me she had drawn five people in her schematics? If we’re going to assume that drawing made any sense, you could infer that she is currently seeing five people in some capacity or other."

June thought on that for a bit, as she tried to visualise the overview Chloe had drawn. 

"Relationship anarchy means you put equal importance to all relationships, right, regardless of romantic status?"

"You tell me," Mark shrugged.

"Well, that’s what it means," June said, not wanting to explain how she had pored over books and books during the Easter holiday, since the library had been shockingly bare on anything about relationships. "So one would assume James is one of the five as well."

She started grinning.

"Why is that such a good thing?" Mark asked. "Also, you’re losing."

"Don’t care," June said, as the final cards exploded. "That’s a good thing because it means she’s already got two Slytherins. If she was just going for the set, she wouldn’t have needed Antares! This is not about my house, this is about _me_!"

* * *

"Oh my God, Chloe!"

Chloe was lying on a hospital bed and giving a cheerful wave with her right hand. June didn't see any immediate injuries, but that didn't mean they weren't there.

"Why are you even playing that stupid sport?" June asked, as she sat down by Chloe's side.

"James needed the popularity points."

That felt like no explanation at all to June, aside from the fact that it became obvious once more that Chloe would do everything for James.

"Besides, I get to hit people!" Chloe's smile was so big you'd think they were having a picnic instead of sitting in the Hospital Wing.

"You get hit, you mean," June grumbled.

"Aw, June, I'd almost think you cared." Chloe winced as apparently some pain broke through the potions she had been given, and something inside June snapped.

"Of course I care!" She tried to keep her voice down to keep Madam Pomfrey from kicking her out, but she wasn't sure she was succeeding. "I might not yet know what this is, but that doesn't mean I want you dead before I've been able to figure it out! I like you, but I have no idea how this works, and then you go and-"

Chloe's lips had found hers while she was screaming. Even though the circumstances were eerily similar - Chloe kissing her to put a stop to an angry tirade - they were also so very different, and June found she didn't much object to this life-affirming kiss.

"For the rest of my life, yeah?" Chloe said as she pulled away from June.

"Wow," June said, as she leaned against the back of the chair. "I’d like that very much."

**Author's Note:**

> Special thanks to the _The Good Place_ add-on for the curse replacements in June's spell.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Don't Trust the Slytherin in Apartment 23](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17928014) by [MTL17](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MTL17/pseuds/MTL17)




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